Just days before the one-year anniversary of Russia’s brutal assault against Ukraine, President Joe Biden made an unannounced visit to the embattled country and walked the streets of Kyiv alongside Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Something a little bit weird is going on here, it seems. According to Newsweek, A Russian political analyst, appearing on a state-run news program asserted that Russia allowed Biden to visit Ukraine because they are “civilized.”

Sergei Markov, a professor of political science at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations, is also a former advisor to Russian President Vladimir Putin. On Monday, BBC journalist Francis Scarr who’s built his career on tracking Russian state-run media posted a clip on Twitter where we see Markov claiming that Biden was allowed to visit Kyiv because of Russia’s civility. He further elaborated that Putin wouldn’t be able to make a similar visit to parts of Ukraine that Russia has attempted to annex.

“That visit also confirms that we are absolutely right, you know,” Markov said. “We’re a civilizied country and Biden arrived in Kyiv because—I’m sure of this—he got security guarantees from the Russian side that he wouldn’t be hit while there…Because we keep our word and are on the side of good and of civilization.”

Sergei Markov says Biden was allowed to visit Kyiv by the Kremlin because Russia is a "civilised country" whereas nobody (Putin, we can infer) is able to visit Donetsk because the "terrorist groups" in charge in Kyiv will "flood it with fire" while they’re there pic.twitter.com/8tclAXVCo1

— Francis Scarr (@francis_scarr) February 20, 2023

An air raid siren could be heard at one point during Biden’s visit, but Markov claimed this was a false alarm. He insisted this proved his point because no officials were seen reacting to it in the video, because, allegedly, they knew it couldn’t be real because Russia had agreed not to attack during Biden’s visit.

Markov then jumped to arguing that Putin or any other Russian official would be unable to make similar visits to some parts of Ukraine due to “terrorist groups” who could pose harm to him.

“Unfortunately, [Ukraine is not] like that,” Markov said. “We know that in essence, terrorist groups are in power in Kyiv, which is why there aren’t any visits to Donetsk. Because everyone knows that if someone visits, the Kyiv junta will literally flood Donetsk with fire in order to kill as many of those who visit Donetsk as possible.”

Biden made the unannounced trip to Kyiv, Ukraine’s capital city Monday and during his visit, he discussed the situation with Zelenskyy and reaffirmed the U.S.’s commitment to providing continued military and financial aid to the embattled country as Russia’s invasion continues.

“One year later, Kyiv stands,” Biden said in a speech. “And Ukraine stands. Democracy stands. The Americans stand with you, and the world stands with you.”

So Markov’s comments are baffling. Is he doing this to help Putin save face somehow? Especially since Putin is his former boss?  Or did Russian intelligence really find out about this beforehand? U.S. intelligence is very sophisticated, but so is Russia’s, so who really knows what’s going on here?

I sure don’t.